Mount Eden Prisons
Encyclopedia
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s, located in Lauder Road in the Central Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
suburb of Mt Eden. They are:
- Mount Eden Prison, which holds about 420 sentenced male prisoners
- Auckland Central Remand Prison (ACRP), which holds about 415 male remand prisonors (remand prisoners are awaiting trial or sentencing)
The prisons are in connected but separate buildings, and are very different architecturally. There has been a prison on the Mount Eden site since 1856 and Mount Eden Prison has a 'category one' classification from the New Zealand Historic Places Trust due to its historical significance and architectural quality.
A major project to redevelop the site and create a combined facility began in late 2008. New accommodation blocks and support facilities will be constructed to replace the old prison building. The historic Mount Eden Prison building will be restored and converted for staff and administration use. The project is due to be complete by the end of 2012.
The New Zealand Government also decided in May 2010 that the combined Mount Eden/Auckland Central Remand Prison will be managed by a private company. This is expected to happen in 2011.
Overview
Stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls made of logs placed side by side vertically with the tops sharpened to provide security.-Stockade as a security fence:...
built in 1856. It became the city's main prison when the old city gaol (corner of Queen and Victoria streets) was demolished in 1865. The stone wall and the foundations were completed in 1872, the building proper was commenced in 1882 and finished in 1917.
Intended to house 220 prisoners, it was designed by Pierre Finch Martineau Burrows and resembles Dartmoor Prison in England. It consists of a radial design with a number of wings radiating out from the centre like the spokes of a wheel. This allows for control from the centre "from which the outlook may be complete and constant". This is obviously an application of the panopticon
Panopticon
The Panopticon is a type of building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe all inmates of an institution without them being able to tell whether or not they are being watched...
prison design theories of Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
. The old prison has been given a 'Category I' classification by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust
New Zealand Historic Places Trust
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust is a non-profit trust that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage buildings in New Zealand...
. Mount Eden Prison was also the site of New Zealand's last execution, with Walter James Bolton
Walter James Bolton
Walter James Bolton was a New Zealand farmer who was found guilty of poisoning his wife. He is known as the last person to be executed in New Zealand before the abolition of capital punishment....
hanged on 18 February 1957 for murdering his wife Beatrice with poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
.
A song was written, performed and published about a famous escapee from the prison, George Wilder. The first time, 29 January 1963, he was free for 172 days, during which time he travelled 1,620 miles and committed 40 crimes. In 1962, Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
's song 'Speedy Gonzales
Speedy Gonzales (song)
"Speedy Gonzales" is a 1961 David Dante song about Speedy Gonzales, "the fastest mouse in all Mexico". It was written by Buddy Kaye, Ethel Lee and David Hess...
' became 'George The Wilder Colonial Boy', by the Howard Morrison Quartet
Howard Morrison
Sir Howard Leslie Morrison, OBE, was a New Zealand entertainer. From 1964 until his death in 2009 he was one of New Zealand's leading television and concert performers.-Early life:...
.
There was a major riot at Mt Eden prison on Tuesday and Wednesday, 20 and 21 July 1965. Prisoners rioted for 33 hours after a prison guard caught two prisoners trying to escape. Chaos ensued as prisoners burnt much of the prison
, including the prison records. The riot was a sensational event for the pupils and staff of the two neighbouring boys' secondary schools, Auckland Grammar School
Auckland Grammar School
Auckland Grammar School is a state secondary school for years 9 to 13 boys in Auckland, New Zealand. It had a roll of 2,483 in 2008, including a number of boarders who live in nearby Tibbs' House, making it one of the largest schools in New Zealand...
and St Peter's College
St Peter's College, Auckland
St Peter's College is a Catholic college for year 7 to 13 boys . The school, located in Auckland, is one of the largest Catholic schools in New Zealand and is an integrated school under an integration agreement entered into by the Catholic Bishop of Auckland and the Government of New Zealand in...
.
Auckland Central Remand Prison opened in July 2000, and was New Zealand's first privately run prison. It was originally managed by Australasian Correctional Management Limited (later called Global Expertise in Outsourcing NZ Ltd), before reverting to the state's Public Prisons Service in July 2005.
The New Zealand Government decided in May 2010 that contract management will once again be implemented at Auckland Central Remand Prison/Mt Eden. A company to take over management of the combined prison is expected to be announced in 2011.
Expansion
The prison redevelopment will also see a new secure gatehouse, a visitor centre and a multi-level carpark added to the structure. Underground tunnels will link the different sections. Another change will see the disappearance of barbed wire around the complex, which is to be replaced by secure building design.
There has been substantial criticism of the proposed height of the new prison building, which at up to 30 m will be visible from the close-by motorway viaduct and also tower over the surrounding area, which unlike the prison zone itself, has a 15 m building height limit. Vocal opponents include the former Mayor of Auckland
Mayor of Auckland
The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland region in New Zealand...
, John Banks
John Banks (New Zealand)
John Archibald Banks, CNZM QSO is a New Zealand politician. He served as Mayor of Auckland City for two terms, from 2001 to 2004, and from 2007 to 2010...
.
On 7 May 2008, the New Zealand Government confirmed the redevelopment of the prison and construction started in 2008. As of mid 2010, one car parking building is complete, while two new prison blocks are rising, with significant security arrangements to keep apart workers and existing prisoners adding complexity to the task.